D. graduated from Miami U (OH). She has graduated from Med. School this year and still believes that she choose the UG that was the best match for her. D. did not choose her college to match her stats. She choose it based on her own personal criteria that was organized in the priority sequence, meaning the most important criteria had the heaviest weight in her selection. Her criteria included being accepted to the combined bs/md program (preferably non-accelerated) , being as close to home as possible (but not in the hometown), NOT being at the Ivy / Elite (her reason was that if she attended there, then she would be with the same type of students that she was in HS while she wanted to broaden her social horizon and learn to connect to any type of people, which was accomplished).
D. graduated #1 in her HS class from #2 private HS in our state. She was the only one in her class with the GPA = 4.0 uw. Her ACT was 33. She was accepted to 3 combined bs/md programs, all at the state schools and choose non-accelerated one at Miami that had only 10 spots. The program has been cancelled since then, but I believe that it still exists at Cinci. She did not like the location of Cinci Col of Med. where she was accepted automatically based on her college GPA=3.98 and the MCAT=35 (old MCAT), so she applied out of the program to 7 other Med. Schools. She was put on hold at 2 and accepted at 3 additional Med. Schools, 2 of which happened to be in the top 20 at the time of her application. She was on full tuition Merit award at Miami. She graduated from Miami with the Zoology major / Music Composition minor and while pursuing minor in Neuroscience, was 2 classes short to complete minor at graduation. Later on in Med. School, she actually discovered that while she possesses a talent for psych, she dislikes the Neurology. So having great interest in Neuroscience is not an indication of your future specialty. The overall opportunities for pre-meds at Miami were way beyond our expectations as well as overall D’s experiences and the end results of her UG education. After graduating from Med. School (she choose private as price was irrelevant for her), she was able to match to her top choice of residency in very selective specialty. All along while at Med. School, she was told by many (superiors, peers, patients) that her ability to connect to others and being helpful is superior. That was one of the objectives of her D’s education, which apparently was accomplished.
Good luck to all who is planning to start on this very hard path!
Do not listen to others (including me) where you want to attend. Create your own criteria list and try to match it as close as possible. Believe me, the pretty campus was important for my D. and we did not object at all. You deserve to respect your own wishes first and foremost!